Convert a hierarchy of Blender Collections to a hierarchy of Empties. Useful for formatting .FBX or other file formats on export to reflect in-house hierarchy & organization.

collection2empty.py

# Credit to Christopher Baumeister on BlenderArtists for the base script.
# I have added logic for nested collections.
# Original topic: https://blenderartists.org/t/blender-2-8-export-fbx-while-keeping-collections-hierarchy/1142655/5

import bpy

sCollection = bpy.context.collection

def parentCol(_colParent, _objParent):
    for col in _colParent.children:
        # Generate an empty with the name of the parent collection
        newObj = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
        bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(newObj)
        
        # Rename & Parent new empty to higher level empty
        newObj.name = col.name
        newObj.parent = _objParent
    
        # For objects within a collection, parent to the new empty
        if len(col.objects) > 0:
            objs = col.objects
            for obj in objs:
                obj.parent = newObj
        else:
            parentCol(col, newObj)
            
        # Check for nested collections
        if len(col.children) > 0:
            for child in col.children:
                parentCol(col, newObj)
                
root = bpy.data.objects.new("empty", None)
bpy.context.scene.collection.objects.link(root)
root.name = sCollection.name

parentCol(sCollection, root)